"The Death of French Socialism: Abd al Malik's 'Occupy Wall Street' Poetical Rap"
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Abstract
Abd al Malik is an important public figure in contemporary France whose multifaceted art as a rapper, poet, novelist and filmmaker keeps urging the French nation to be more cohesive in the face of current challenges such as integration and terrorism. This article takes stock of the unequal distribution of wealth between different socio-geographical groups as a fundamental cause of postcolonial discontent and examines the polymorphic treatment of “money” as a topic in Abd al Malik’s poetry, rap lyrics, as well as in connection with other genres such as autobiography and film. In a particular socio-political climate marked by an association between crime and immigration in “Front National” rhetoric, I analyze how Abd al Malik strives to first of all powerfully de-essentialize the immigrant through a complete exposure of his own personal life, recounting in full detail his religious journey from superficial Christianity to radical Islam to Sufism –and his concomitantly evolving relationships with “money.” Additionally, this article aims at scrutinizing the indeed interesting paradox which is that, on the hand, Abd al Malik’s writings draw upon anti-capitalist thinkers and movements such as Alain Badiou and “les indignés”/Occupy Wall Street, while on the other hand, he advocates in favor of adapting into the French context a form of philanthropy usually akin to a North American, capitalistic model of society. I show how at the heart of this paradox lies the centrality of religion added to a firm belief in French secularism, which has led Abd al Malik to actively promote a form of “spiritualité laïque” [secular spirituality] à la française.
